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How Many People use IE6 and Why

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Internet Explorer 6

I am a simple guy who became a web designer and developer. I am a normal guy who tries to live in peace and make a living from what I do, why I have to suffer because something called IE6 exists?

The reason why I am writing this blog post is it happened that I got a thread in my thesis skins support forum from a member who asked why my skins are not working on IE6, so I replied to her in the forum, then I thought this information worth re-publish about it today even though many other have been killing this topic.

Before I go on, I just want you to know that Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 27, 2001 (Source: Wikipedia IE6). Microsoft was trying to do something good that turns to be the worst nightmare ever for web designers and developers, however it is not Microsoft’s mistake, and I am going to tell you why people still using IE6.

We have a website that doesn’t show correctly in IE6

What should I do?!

My answer is: Absolutely Nothing!

Forget about it, pretend that IE6 doesn’t exist, get back to your normal life and take care of your business.

Why people still using IE6

I am sure if I try to answer this question I won’t be accurate and fun than Chris Coyier of CSS-Tricks.com, this guy is hot and I am following him since long time because he knows what he talks about, he wrote a good one back to 2008 where Matt Mullenweg the founder of WordPress stated that “IE6 users account for about 27% of all the visits we saw” in his famous post about IE6 Independence.

So if you would like to know why people use IE6 and get a wide smile on your face…

Go ahead and read his nice post: Why People Still Use IE 6

How many people use IE6

Some people still confused about the percentage of internet users who still using IE6, probably the old articles and blog posts is the reason behind this confusion, this is why I hate blogs when they hide the published date, date is very important element of any article on the internet, because it simply present the credibility of information, so please think 100 times before taking this path and hiding the published on your blog posts.

I took a snap shot from FB Analytics stats today just to show you the truth about IE6 users. If you come across this post any day latter, please compare the stats with the date of publishing this post, I am sure you will find this number lower because IE6 users are going down!

IE6 usage famous bloggers

As you see, out of 6,652 visitors last month using IE, only 137 visitors use IE6

Does this affect my blog?

It really depends; every single blog has its own unique finger print of stats, and its own share of web traffic, so you go and check your Google Analytics or any other service you are using, and based on your blog stats you will know.

It’s so clear here in the ie6countdown.com site –man, I love that site a lot- that the percentage of IE users is going down every day, and it’s not a threat anymore.

internet explorer 6 falling

Watch it live every day at ie6countdown.com and see Internet Explorer 6 falling!

Now, you’ve got it all, so you tell me!

Why I have to develop for a bunch of people setting behind their old computers at work place and visiting my blog?

Why I have to spend extra expensive development hours or my time to make my blog look pretty for them?

About

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

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{ 18 Responses }

  1. Anu says:
    more internet users are shifted from IE to chrome , mozilla firefox.This article had collected wide range of information of internet users on different browsers.Nice stuff.
  2. Ian says:
    Thanks for the info. Working as a network engineer and as a tech support analyst I was amased at how many companies are still using Windows XP and even Win 2000 for some. What I have learned from the IT support companies that support these people is that they will not upgrade until the company is willing to pay out the bucks to change over the entire system which means new hardware, new OS's, and in many cases finding an alternative to the business specific software they use that is made for WinXP and IE6. As for security it has been the consensus from the "expert" IT people I have worked with that IE6 is the most secure and bug free due to all the service packs full of patches and security updated for both XP and IE6. Then there are those who go ahead and update to 7 but won't go to IE8 until they switch the pc over to win7 because IE8 was not made to work on XP and they are definitely not going to put Vista on any respectable machine. Also, the typical IT train of thought is that firefox and chrome are not proven secure yet so they aren't allowed to be installed on company PC's. Therefore those users are stuck with IE6 or IE7 if they are lucky. They can go home and download viruses with there new fancy rounded corners, gradients, and shadows. lol I have to admit though, many IT support people I've met and worked with are stuck in the 90's and base their stubborn opinions of security on old ideas that aren't true any more. So IE is tied to the OS and in many businesses, IT has not made the jump from XP to Win7. I have a feeling that will be when IE6 users dwindle to almost nothing if not completely go away. But in understanding why people are using IE6 you have to look at the IT side of things. The typical IT perspective is "if it works why upgrade and have to deal with a bunch of new bugs?" Now that I'm into web design I too wish everyone was using firefox, chrome, or IE9. I can' t wait to take advantage of IE10 on my windows PC.
  3. Salah Messaoud says:
    I wont use IE6 for a simple reason because it is full of holes and very vulnerable I just would like to be always up to date it is only for security reason and people who still using it please upgrade it is very risky
  4. jigar doshi says:
    same here.. i too din't know that people still use IE6. as most of my traffic is from chrome or firefox. rarely any other format. nice post. we don't really need to fret over those few people still using out-dated servers. :)
  5. Kristina says:
    Very interesting article! I love that ie6countdown site. I personally try to ignore IE6 if I can, but let me be honest here: I work on a site that still has 30,000+ monthly users on IE6, and that's on a low traffic month. So lately I've found myself spending time fixing the more apparent bugs. 30,000K is a really small percentage of the site's total visitors, but still. I'm a web designer so I do get great satisfaction when I make something look pretty in ALL browsers. ;)
  6. Bishwajeet says:
    Some old Indian internet cafe's still use IE 6 in their computers.
  7. greg ascentive says:
    If the 6% statistic is accurate, then there has been *significant* movement on that in the past few years. I remember looking at the stats a couple years ago and was shocked at how many people still used IE6. Now, fortunately, I find myself shocked at bow FEW people the number has dropped to, so quickly. It is finally time to forget about the IE6 users!
  8. Lill says:
    Honestly, I treat IE as if it doesn't exist anymore (should we?). I use Chrome and Firefox all the time and when I open IE (which is rarely) to test out something, it looks alien to me already LOL!
  9. Jason says:
    By the way, our own development company quit building for IE6 as a practice a few months ago, now that it has slipped down around 2%-ish in the USA. We don't build too many sites for the China or Venezuela markets.
  10. Jason says:
    "Microsoft was trying to do something good..." Maybe, but I think "Microsoft was trying to beat Netscape to a pulp" would be closer. If I remember my ancient history correctly, IE6 was rushed to market at the height of the Browser Wars, with quirks and half-finished features bumping along behind the battle-wagon. I doubt anybody at Microsoft expected, in their worst nightmares, that the bugs in IE6 would still be an issue TEN YEARS LATER.
  11. Paul Profitt says:
    I have abandoned IE completely. I use Google Chrome or FireFox. The reason why people don't upgrade their current web browsers is. Because they just can't be bothered. Or they just don't think they need to.
  12. Jimmy says:
    I´m sorry but I can´t tell you why you should develop anything so that IE6 users can use the page.! I have design / develop several themes for wordpress and blogengine blog, and I have to say that I don´t waste a second thinking about if IE6 users can use my theme or even load the page.! These IE6 users has made the decision to keep using IE6, well then live with the consequences. Thereby not saying that they accept it, I have received some mails about it sucks that my themes don´t support IE6. But it´s not my problem, and it´s definitely not yours.!
  13. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Hesham, It’s China that lifts up the figure 9.7% with 30.5% users of IE6. U.S. has only 1.7%, UK 2.4%, and we up in Scandinavia are 0.5% using IE6. I think within a year will you not have any visitors from EI6.
  14. Anshul says:
    i think IE users are dropping after mozilla firefox introduction, i have websites which get like 2000 visitors per day and approx 55% are IE 43% Mozilla and 2% rest.. the brand of IE is loosing out slowly now
    • Jimmy says:
      It´s the same with my currency site, last month it had 82K unique hits and 43% of them was IE users. and out of all those users only 649 hits om them was IE6 users or 1,49% of all IE users. And I´m sorry to say that 649 hits isn´t gonna make me change anything
  15. Hung Hong says:
    Only 2%.We can forget about IE 6
  16. Nick says:
    It's always the strong headache to support old browsers. Web developers should be polite for IE6 users. But they don't imagine the price of that...
  17. Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
    You know what, I still do not understand why people won't upgrade, I mean new updates is to keep thing stable and safe, why still IE6... I really didn't know about people still using IE6 until you posted this post... I have never never use IE since Firefox was introduce, and I had been using it for so long I don't even know when was the time I deleted IE...